Cannonball officially starts on Thursday, September 9th. I realize that's almost a week away, but quite a few of the participants are about to start transiting to the starting line in Vancouver, BC. Bagel has already left, in fact, and is doing an Iron Butt from the SF Bay Area up to Vancouver.

This thread is the official place for all MV Cannonballers to post status updates, photos, and anything else relating to their adventure. We're all very eager to hear about it.

This thread has location tracking turned on. Photos emailed to this thread (see the "@" button in the upper-right corner) will be automatically posted with geotag information pinpointed on the map at the bottom. SPOT Messenger status updates sent to this thread via email will similarly be shown on the map.

Good luck, riders, and I'll see you in Vancouver!

EDIT: In addition to our coverage here, you might want to follow the individual blogs of the riders:

Wow, you guys felt that? Actually, that was from the leftover chili that I had for dinner last night. Too bad I couldn't have tapped into that energy source to help power my scooter today, for there was plenty of it to be had!

Unfortunately though, a late start compounded with fuel delivery problems from an insufficiently tested spare tank hampered my endeavor to complete the Iron Butt today. I made it as far as Portland, riding just over 700 miles in 13.5 hours. Somehow, I managed to do that on an extremely insufficient amount of sleep, using far too much caffeine and energy drinks combined with sheer willpower. I don't recommend anyone trying that, it's a very, very bad idea. In any event, I did arrive safe and sound in PDX and I'll make the last hop skip and jump of the remaining 300 miles to the 'Couv tomorrow. I'm going to pass out now... good night!

My ankle is doing pretty well, it's still a little tender and I need to be gentle with it, but it's been healing up nicely. My left knee, on the other hand, has quite literally been a real pain (old injury), but that's nothing new.

I would have been up in P-Town a lot sooner if it weren't for the fuel system woes, and if I had gotten more rest. I needed to take a couple of longer breaks along the way just to re-center myself and get ready for the next stretch. As for today, I'm very well rested and ready to rocket the last 300 miles up to Vancouver.

I made some adjustments to my tracking map yesterday. If you PM me your "@" email address for this thread, I can have my tracking map/iphone system auto email your position reports for posting here.

Updated: I finished programing the elevation profile traveled for current day. It uses your reported positions and then does a path look up to Google's elevation API and plots it on a chart that is appended below "Today's" map.

Last edited by feb31st on Sun Sep 05, 2010 5:56 am; edited 1 time in total

Well, first I discovered that I accidentally pinched the fuel line going from the spare tank to the main tank when I put it all together. I thought it was flowing because I rode for a while after hooking it up and filling both tanks, then the next morning I saw that the level had dropped in the spare tank... but it must have only produced a trickle, but not enough to keep the fuel flowing while I was riding WOT. Then fuel got backed up inside the vent line causing it to vapor lock. I thought I had sorted that out, but I forgot to allow the fuel to flow from the spare tank into the main tank before closing the cap on the main tank, which left air sitting inside the fuel line that kept it from flowing into the main tank. I think I have it all sorted out now, I'll be testing it out over the next couple days to make sure.

It's Karen G. from Portland, Oregon. I'm planning on scooting up to Vancouver either tomorrow or Tuesday for Cannonball.

I wanted to also post a thank you to MVer Danny H from Texas. When I was scooting down to Texas for Amerivespa, I had to replace my rear tire. Couldn't find any in Roswell and didn't have internet access. Danny kindly posted on this list for me asking for help locating a spare. Pistol Pete saw the thread and mentioned it to Mike Bobadilla and Dan Ciccone. They all happened to be in Roswell the same time as me and we were able to ride together to Lubbock(spare tire) and then San Antonio. Thanks for helping me out Modern Vespa.

All Content Copyright 2005-2019 by Modern Vespa. All Rights Reserved.
Modern Vespa is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designedto provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.